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Temple3 Banned

Bad Behavior and Interpersonal Weakness

I am pleased to say that some theories are easier to prove than others. I have always maintained that within the context of the US, the fiercest advocates of “white supremacy,” are seeking to mask a profound inability to COMPETE. History reveals that this was the case in the American South in the aftermath of African enslavement. It was the same during the Jim Crow Era of American Segregation. The exclusion of Blacks from counties, towns, professions and commerce often followed demonstrable Black success. Ida B. Wells was drawn into a life of political activism after lynchings in Tennessee led to the deaths of prosperous Black store owners. Professional sports leagues banned Black participation for years while hiding behind the ruse of “physical superiority.” Things have not changed all that much.

“Guy White” (a white guy?) operates a blog where he professes to “make sense” out of the morass which has become dialogue on race and racism. In fact, guy is a shameless and unrepentant purveyor of myth. Moreover, he is wholly incapable of defending his pseudo-intellectual positions. The narratives of “white supremacy” are contingent on misinformation. His web site, from which I have been banned, is a font of misinformation. For my part, I was aware from my first few interactions that the author was a bit of “cut and paste” blogger, rather than a creator of substantive original content. I recognized that critical details would never be provided because the author did not have the background information to provide them. Nonetheless, the volume, scope and vulgarity of those pronouncements warrant an occasional refutation. I began our dialogue in a genial manner (I was even acknowledge for the quality of my posts.), but this was not to last. The tone necessarily headed south because of two factors: 1) continued racist framing of issues; 2) an almost Cobbian willingness to skirt those same issues. Both practices are unacceptable.

If you’ve read my work before, you know I’ll only place nicely in the sandbox for so long.

A Question of Substance

Decades after the revelation that Africans had numerous pre-Columbian contacts in the Americas, this site suggests no such thing has happened. It is precisely this type of revisionism that deluded “white” supremacists into believing they were physically superior in the ring, the gridiron, the diamond and on the court. Of course, the myth extended beyond the realm of the body – but the evidence of such claims has always wanted for support. “Guy” actually posted pictures of Greek-era Egyptian coins as “proof” the Egyptians of antiquity were “white.” For historians and archaeologists, this is the height of absurdity. The ethnicity of the Ptolemaic Dynasty is neither under question or relevant. In this environment, facts are simply beside the point. The knowledge base for meaningful discourse is simply too one-sided. When Cheikh Anta Diop overwhelmed his colleagues at UNESCO in the 70’s, they had the decency to concede the point. Those scholars “knew what they didn’t know.” With Guy, it’s different. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. He has no clue – so, like many of his fellow blind men, he makes proclamations about things which have not only been soundly refuted, but were actually predicated on the political agenda of long-deceased men with an axe to grind. The history of “white supremacy” is chock full of scholarly myths. From “Piltdown Man” to the recent faux-discovery of “whites” at Qustul, there is no end to the grand deception. And why not? The cost of the truth is too high.

Competition is supposed to be the principle which reflects the heart and soul of this nation and the entire Western enterprise. Blogs are a place of competitive ideas. Banning is little more than a grandiose concession speech.

I don’t do it too often. I think there is a place for it, though. It’s worthwhile to force these folks to either delete your posts, ban you from the site, or leave your comments up there for others to see clearly for themselves.

These folks have a great deal of anger about things they simply don’t understand. The simple contradictions and unconsidered questions are so numerous that conversation rapidly descend into nothing.

I’ve always found it helpful to conduct these forays because it forces me to build coherent arguments from scratch. There is no “preaching to the choir” here. It’s all about being able to frame linear and nuanced arguments to make compelling points. I make an effort to resist jumping to conclusions about bloggers. All of our work is autobiographical and subject to cross-examination. So, I find the tendency of certain folks (guy, Cobb, etc.) to seek quick classification comical. For them, everything is liberal vs. conservative or Democrat vs. Republican.

When do you don’t fit either classification, they lose their entire ideological grounding. They don’t have a theoretical base for arguing their case beyond the POWER paradigm of might makes right – which, then makes all their previous moralizing and behavioralism seem at best silly, and at worst deceitful.

Ultimately, this battle of words isn’t about anything more than their willingness to endorse the wanton use of terror – yesterday, today, and forevah!

I used to enjoy arguing with folks about stuff like that. Then I decided it was pretty pointless because they were willing to change or ignore facts, which gave them a ridiculous advantage and raised my blood pressure.

I find that most ideologues with whom I disagree are always willing to do exactly that. What’s been most interesting about the process is that it reveals two things: 1) a real lack of knowledge combined with stupidity; and 2) a lack of integrity.

I suspect the only real benefit is sharpening my knives. You need to be sharp in the sphere (blogo) and on this sphere (terra). Devils abound and they all need to get cut sooner or later.

Sirius Options

Why Hollywood Is Wrong About SOPA

In the battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the tech world seems to be gaining ground. In a major protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PIPA), a number of high-profile sites are planning a total shutdown for January 18.